sleep
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Reduced consciousness during which a human or animal rests in a daily rhythm.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sleepIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈslip
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
uncountable
The state of reduced consciousness during which a human or animal rests in a daily rhythm.
A natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended
uncountable
Rheum, crusty or gummy discharge found in the corner of the eyes after waking, whether real or a figurative objectification of sleep (in the sense of reduced consciousness).
The hibernation of animals.
countableinformal
An act or instance of sleeping.
verb
intransitive
To rest in a state of reduced consciousness.
intransitive
To be, or appear to be, in repose; to be quiet; to be unemployed, unused, or unagitated; to rest; to lie dormant.
transitive
To accommodate in beds.
intransitiveidiomatic
To be careless, inattentive, or unconcerned; not to be vigilant; to live thoughtlessly.
Be able to accommodate for sleeping
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The state of reduced consciousness during which a human or animal rests in a daily rhythm.
Used this way, sleep is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- rest , a specialist term, precise but narrower
- eternal sleep , rarer, so it draws attention
- kip , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A rester who is sleeping.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A disorder of sleep characterized by a dream of terrifying dimensions far worse than a typical nightmare.
Have sexual intercourse with.
Have sexual intercourse with.
A cell of sleepers.
Tropical fish that resembles a goby and rests quietly on the bottom in shallow water.
A nest of sleepers awaiting a prearranged signal.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Someone who cannot sleep.
Change from a waking to a sleeping state.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: reduced consciousness during which a human
Antonyms
Sense: reduced consciousness during which a human
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.